Silent Hill: Atonement
by BushNinjaMokuba
Summary: Frank Ellis' life is finally together again he has a loving family and a good job. But when a town called Silent Hill calls out to him, will he learn of sins in his past that even he had forgotten?
1. Chapter 1

"Daddy's home, Daddy's home!"

"Daddy, Tammy hit me!"

"Welcome to the jungle, honey." the slightly flustered but still melodic voice of Frank Ellis' wife, Marlene, was a welcome break from the din that had enveloped him the second he walked in the front door, the din that was his three children. His wife kissed his cheek and he returned the favor, then hoisted his three-year-old son Michael into his arms, leaving his six-year-old daughter Tammy and ten-year-old son Shane staring up at him.

"Now, why would Tammy do something like that?" he asked Michael.

"Because he hit me first!" Tammy declared.

"Oh brother." Shane sauntered into the living room and flopped down in front of the television.

Frank made quick work of settling the argument before joining his wife and Shane in the living room. Frank sighed and smiled as he watched his son, whose eyes were glued to a game he was playing. Frank glanced over at his wife in the kitchen, making dinner. Tammy and Michael sauntered into the living room and joined him on the couch - on opposite sides of their father, of course. Frank couldn't help but feel happy in that moment - as crazy as things got around his house, he was always happy to be home with his family. The stress of home, to Frank, was a welcome change from the stress at work.

"Yeah, look at you smilin' over there like this is easy, like you're father of the year - I have to deal with it all day!" Marlene was glaring, her hands on her hips.

"Baby, I know. And I gotta deal with my own crap at work. But it's all good."

Marlene groaned, feeling her husband wasn't getting the point, and turned back to the stove.

Frank just sat there on the couch, taking it all in...

* * *

The fog was thick, intense and almost squeezing those who were unlucky enough to fall into it - unlucky folks like Frank.

_Where the hell am I?_ Frank mused, feeling panicked as he tried to breath the heavy, dank air.

In the distance, the sound of laughter and splashing could be heard. Though it seemed to be daytime, Frank could see nothing. He moved cautiously toward the sound. As the sound got louder, Frank couldn't fight the feeling that, rather than moving closer to safety, he was stepping right into the devil's hands.

The laughter rang out again and then, the voices began speaking.

"A breaststroke goes like this, Dave."

More slight splashing.

"I know that, look."

Splash.

The voices were those of young men.

"Are you stupid or something? You swim like a rock!"

A chill ran through Frank's spine as he recognized the first speaker. _That's me!_

"What's that supposed to mean?"

And as the second speaker's voice echoed in Frank's ear, he felt his heart rate quicken.

"Dave you're going too far out! Dave!"

"NO!" Frank cried out, charging towards the voices and the new sound of frantic splashing. It wouldn't happen this time - he wouldn't let it! As Frank charged towards the water, the lake lying beneath the fog suddenly became clear. Frank saw only splashing. He leapt into the water and swam towards the commotion. He reached his hands into the water - he could do it this time, he could save his friend.

The feeling between Frank's fingers was cold, almost metallic. He felt alarmed, sure he must have been too late.

Frank guided the cold being up and broke it through the water. Water splashed into his eyes. Before he could see what had happened, a pair of hands grabbed his own. And as Frank blinked away the water, he realized what he was looking at - a creature with a human body and a metallic triangular shaped head, a head with one angle pointing directly at him like a sharp beak. Without moving anything that would resemble a mouth, the creature merely echoed words that were hissing in the voice of his long dead friend David.

"Your lies will come full circle!"

Frank sat up with a start, sweat pouring down his face. Frank wiped the sweat away from his ebony face and ran a hand through his soaked, short black hair. His wife Marlene sat up and placed an arm on his shoulder.

"Honey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Frank said breathlessly and then slowly turned his head to look into Marlene's eyes. "Just a bad dream."

Marlene nodded and laid back down. Frank sat there for a moment before slowly rising from his bed and heading downstairs.

Frank grabbed a beer from the refrigerator mechanically, but upon looking at it, his face sank and he switched it for a Coke instead. He situated himself upon the couch and clicked on the TV before glancing up at the clock.

2:30.

_Man, I gotta stop eating before bedtime. _Frank eyed his Coke and took a swig.

On the television, two men were rambling on about the merits of buying a time share in Vietnam. Frank tuned them out rather quickly and just sat there, letting his body deflate into the couch.

_But why is it always that nightmare?_ Frank wondered, thinking back to hearing Dave's voice.

"It's called guilt." a voice ripped through Frank's thoughts.

Frank looked around with a start and then his eyes drifted to the TV, where he realized the two real estate salesmen were staring directly at the camera. No...they were staring directly at him.

"You heard me." One of the agents sneered, "You're feeling guilty for what you did to David all those years ago."

"I didn't do anything to him! It was an accident!" Frank yelled, then clasped his hand over his mouth, realizing not only how loud he was yelling, but that he was yelling at a TV.

"David is waiting for you, Frank." The second agent stepped up, grinning. "He's waiting for you...in Silent Hill." The TV then clicked off.

_Silent Hill...where the hell is that?_ Frank was shaking. His eyes slowly drifted back to the TV, which was reflecting a distorted image of him and...and...

_That thing again!_ The creature with the triangle shaped head was standing over his reflection, looking down on him. Slowly, Frank turned around, and saw nothing behind him. He snapped his head back around to the TV but the only thing reflected back at him this time was himself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note** –Here we go for chapter two! Now, I'm not sure which ending of SH 2 was accepted as the "official" ending, so this story is written under the assumption that the "Leave" ending is correct.

Enjoy and please tell me whatcha think!

* * *

"This is all I could find on it." A man in a white blouse handed a handful of freshly printed sheets of paper to Frank. The one on top read in big black letters ASHEFIELD ARCHIVAL DATA: SILENT HILL.

"Thanks Mike, I appreciate it." Frank took the papers and returned to his desk.

"Why the sudden interest in a dump like Silent Hill, Frank?" Mike lingered in the doorway, grinning. "Don't tell me you and the misses are goin' on a second honeymoon? You could do better than Silent Hill – at least try for the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland, eh?"

"Funny guy." Frank huffed and began thumbing through the printouts, most of them detailing Silent Hill's mining roots, tourist attractions in the past, and, a mysterious fire that destroyed the town. Something else caught Frank's eye – a small blurb on one site about a man with the last name of Sunderland, who had emerged from Silent Hill babbling about "monsters".

"Yeah, check that guy out. Some nut job who says there's monsters in Silent Hill." Mike was hovering over Frank's shoulder, his sudden statement giving Frank a jump.

"I thought you just said Silent Hill was haunted." Frank raised an eyebrow as Mike.

"I was just messin' around, sheesh, Frank. Come on, do you really believe that nut job? Rumors like that come about from places like Silent Hill cause ghost towns are so rare these days, y'know? What happened there is sad, but it's not haunted."

Frank shrugged. "Anyway, thanks man."

"Why do you want this stuff, anyway? Come on, Frank, you don't really believe in ghosts…do ya?"

The phone rang and Frank heaved a sigh of relief. "I gotta take this." He said, lifting the phone off the receiver. Mike reluctantly headed for the door.

* * *

Frank sat in his parked car with a half-eaten cheeseburger in his lap. He wasn't feeling very hungry. He held his cell phone, the display showing a number had been dialed in, waiting for Frank to hit the "Send" button.

_How can I call them after all these years? What will I say? 'Have you seen your son around? Can you tell him to stop harassing me?' Geez…_

Frank erased the number from the display and closed the cell phone, throwing it into the seat next to him. He gripped the wheel and squeezed it for a moment. He hesitated, then placed the key into the ignition.

He reached over into the passenger's seat and grabbed the cell phone, lifting it to his ear.

"Honey, it's me…sorry this is so sudden, but I have a bit of a business trip…no, I don't think I'll be home in time for dinner…"


	3. Chapter 3

"…no, I don't think I'll be home in time for dinner…"

Marlene Ellis stood at the back door of her house, watching her children play outside, a cold chill running down her spine. Frank's voice sounded so strange, so cold and flat, and yet…so afraid.

"A-a business trip? That's a little ridiculous, Frank, why would your boss spring something like that on you."

Frank was silent for a moment, then his voice came back on the line, sounding completely different and filled with confidence.

"Look, the company got into some trouble OK? I'm a corporate lawyer, I go where I'm needed, so I'm goin' up the road to the main office to sit down and sort this all out. The big man in the upper office made it sound like there was something really nice in it for me, you see…" his voice bubbled over the line and Marlene felt even more concerned than before.

"But Frank-"

"Look, baby, we just gotta keep this low-key for the company's sake. Gotta save face, you know?"

Marlene was growing impatient now – she didn't like people to underestimate her intelligence. But Frank gave her no opportunity for rebuttal.

"I'll give you a call as soon as I can, but I better get off the phone for now."

"Frank-"

"I love you. More than you could possibly know."

"Frank!"

"Tell the kids I love them too."

"FRANK!"

_Click._

Frank was gone.

"Daddy isn't coming home, is he?" A small, flat voice from below caused Marlene to jump. She looked down and saw Shane standing right beside her. Tammy and Michael, who had come in just behind Shane, burst into tears upon hearing what Shane had said.

"Daddy's not coming home?!" Tammy bawled hysterically, wrapping her arms frantically around little Michael.

"Shane! What would make you say that? Of course he's coming home!" Marlene sputtered, trying to reassure herself as well as her children.

"The TV told me!" Shane retorted.

"The TV?! Then it really is true!" Tammy howled even louder, causing Michael to elevate his sobs as well. Marlene dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around the two younger children.

"There, there, the TV isn't always right. And if the TV is 'telling' you things like that-" she shot a glance at Shane "then maybe we should cut back on TV time."

Tammy was heaving in smaller and smaller sobs. She looked up at her mother, her eyes twinkling. "What will we do?"

"Oh I don't know…I was thinking about taking you kids to the PlayZone, but if TV's more important-"

"PLAYZONE!" Tammy and Michael chorused, their sobs quickly fading into euphoric cheers.

Marlene smiled at her oldest son to seek his approval, but saw he was glaring back at her.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me!" he roared and stormed out of the kitchen and up the stairs, slamming his door for good measure.

The two younger children, still wrapped in Marlene's embrace, looked up at her.

"Does this mean we can't go to PlayZone, Mommy?"


End file.
